Remarks by President McAleese at the Allianz Business to Arts Awards
Dublin Castle, Monday, 5th September, 2011
Dia dhíbh a dhaoine uaisle. Tá an-áthas orm bheith i bhur measc ar an ócáid speisialta seo.
Míle bhuíochas díbh as an gcuireadh agus an fáilte a thug sibh dom. It is a pleasure to be
here in Dublin Castle at this the 20th Allianz Business to Arts Awards.
Fourteen years ago, the first event I attended as a newly-elected President was the
Allianz Business to Arts Awards dinner in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham. This is not quite my final event as President but it is getting close and I am delighted that not alone has Business to Arts survived these past tumultuous years but is thriving on this its 20th birthday.
From its foundation this relationship between arts and business has been of formidable
assistance in encouraging emerging new talent, recognising established talent and
consolidating Ireland’s artistic and cultural reputation. Yet when the tough times hit it would
have been so easy to find an excuse to walk away from a platform of endeavour that takes
considerable resources and determination to sustain. You have managed to secure both and
by simply staying faithful to Business to Arts you have given precisely the kind of leadership
we need right now and you have helped generate precisely the kind of creative momentum
which will get us through these difficult times.
The exhibition of the Awards sculptures commissioned for each of the last 20 years with the
support of Dublin Airport Authority tells a tale of phenomenal success. Early winners are
now household names at home and abroad - Felim Egan, Seamus Gill, Alva Gallagher and
Grace Weir - and wherever their names are spoken or their canon of work admired they have
generated and continue to generate respect not just for themselves but for this Ireland which
helped their talent to thrive.
Next month Dublin Castle will host the second Global Irish Economic Forum. The first
Forum was held in Farmleigh in September 2009 and it brought to Ireland the leading lights
of our global Irish family so that they could deliberate on our future. The richness, enduring
strength and international reach of our culture emerged as a major theme and our artists were
seen to have a uniquely important role to play in rebuilding our confidence nationally and our
reputation internationally.
The Allianz Business to Arts Awards are at the very heart of our drive to improve Ireland’s
business narrative and our arts narrative. That the two are seen as part of an integrated
partnership is hugely to your credit for over twenty years you have proved time and again the
magical alchemy that allows both spheres to get results by working together which would
have eluded them were each working wholly independently of the other. More than that, the
chemistry spills over into our communities all over the country providing large and small
scale opportunities and resources that enrich us individually and collectively whether it is
through the Moderns’ exhibitions which attracted over 135,000 visitors thanks to BNP
Paribas and IMMA or the likes of the ‘Shelter me from the Rain’ opera in Carlow just to
name a couple.
We would not have these stories, these memories or these leavens at work in Irish life were it
not for the generosity and commitment of the sponsors of these awards among whom are so
many of our indigenous companies, our inward investors and especiallyAllianz, whose name
has been associated with this event for ten years.
When I first attended these Awards I made a new friend in the late Jim McNaughton. His
love of the arts was legendary and his children Michele, Robin and Gerard have faithfully
honoured Jim’s fidelity to the Arts through the McNaughton and Tilestyle awards that were
established in Jim’s memory. It is particularly fitting that the winner of the Tilestyle Bursary
this evening, Denis Roche, has led the way in looking at the possibilities that exist in the arts
and health environment, with a programme that started in the unit at St. James’s Hospital
which, coincidentally, provided Jim with treatment during his illness. Here is an area of
immense potential and one which the Arts Council has also supported.
I have been proud to be patron of Business to Arts these past years and I thank the Board and
Executive for allowing me to play a small part in this big and big-hearted mission. There is
much more than a spirit of dogged resilience here. There is a belief in power of flair, genius,
imagination, craft and skill to help us reimagine things and to generate sources of comfort,
inspiration, pride, respect, wonder, awe and even renaissance. There is a willingness to make
sacrifices so that those sources can be primed and replenished year after year, generation after
generation. In a world that can give in so easily at times to cynicism and even despair your
confidence, conviction and boldness are a welcome antidote and a sign of hope. Thank you.
Gurb fada buan sibh ‘s go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.